The present invention relates to a method of conditioning cigars.
It is common practice, when smoking a cigar, to pierce one end longitudinally so that the smoke can be drawn easily into the mouth when the cigar is lit.
To accomplish this operation, use has always been made of manual punch devices typically comprising a tubular body in which to locate the end of a single cigar, and a punch positioned to pierce the cigar when offered to the tubular body.
With the advent of mechanization and its impact on the manufacture of tobacco products generally, this piercing operation is now included among the functions of normal cigar making machines.
In effect, the prior art embraces piercing units consisting in heads equipped with a plurality of needles placed to engage a corresponding plurality of cigars disposed parallel one with another and arranged in an ordered succession.
More exactly, ordered groups of cigars advancing through the machine are directed into a piercing station and thereupon held stationary so as to enable their engagement with the aforementioned heads carrying the plurality of needles.
The needles are heated so that the tobacco will be subjected to a stretching action, designed to ensure that the hole retains its shape rather than closing up once the needle is withdrawn.
For the heat-stretching action to be effective, clearly enough, the needle must remain in the hole for a certain period of time.
Consequently, the feed unit by which the cigars are advanced must pause for a duration at least equal to the aforementioned period of time.
Conventional machines thus betray the drawback of requiring lengthy cycle times, and this has obvious repercussions on the operating efficiency and the profitability of such machines.
Another drawback connected with the use of prior art machines is that, in seeking to avoid further prolongation of the pause, attempts have been made to speed up the steps of inserting and withdrawing the needle into and from the cigar; this expedient has negative consequences however, since the cigars can suffer damage from the substantially impulsive action of the selfsame needle.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method of conditioning cigars, unaffected wholly or in part by the drawbacks mentioned above and at the same time functional and economical to operate.
The stated object is realized, according to the invention, in a method of conditioning cigars that comprises the steps of arranging the cigars in an ordered succession on respective holder elements, advancing the cigars with the holder elements along a predetermined feed path, and piercing a hole in at least one end of each cigar, substantially parallel with a longitudinal axis of the selfsame cigar. Advantageously, the cigars are caused to advance continuously along the predetermined path, and the step of piercing a hole in each cigar is accomplished during the continuous movement of the cigars along the predetermined path.
The present invention relates also to a cigar making machine capable of conditioning cigars in the manner of the present invention.
Such a machine comprises conveyor means by which the cigars are advanced along a predetermined feed path, a distribution station at which the cigars are dispensed onto a plurality of holder elements afforded by the conveyor means, and piercing means operating in conjunction with the conveyor means in such a way as to penetrate at least one end portion presented by each of the cigars advancing along the predetermined path. In accordance with the method disclosed, the conveyor means operate continuously so as to advance the cigars continuously along the predetermined path.